I Was A King - I Was A King (Album)
I must admit, I was both bemused and delighted when I discovered I Was A King hailed from Norway. In the past I have unknowingly adapted to associating Norway with producing either back metal or the extremely opposing sounds of electro; so, if you’ve heard these guys before, you can understand the naïve perplexity that smothered my bewildered mug when I threw on I Was A King’s 2009 self-titled.
Originally from Egersund, this Oslo based indie/power pop band is led by the vocal stylings and quirky songwriting skills of Frode Strømstad who is joined by Anne Lise Frøkedal (guitar/songwriting), Håvard Krogedal (bass), Kristoffer Solvang (drums), and Kjetil Ovesen (synth). Their debut album follows 2007’s Losing Something Good for Something Better and showcases guest spots from both Sufjan Stevens and Daniel Smith (Danielson), among others.
The album, recorded at Marlborough Farms (Brooklyn, NY) and mixed by Nick Terry, who has previously worked with the likes of Primal Scream, The Libertines and The Klaxons, proves that laying the necessary groundwork before recording can definitely pay off. The album opens with Still, a fuzzy melancholic song that sets a general pace of enjoyable, melodic sluggishness for the rest of the album. Track three, Golden Years is a definite standout number that bounces around the eardrums with a catchy riff and drawn out lyrical persistency that makes the corners of my mouth smirk both unintentionally and unequivocally.
This falls in to A Name That Hurts To Say which sashays its way through an inspiring swelling of instruments, all played loosely amongst the echoing, hallway hugging vocals of the likeable Strømstad. When listening to I Was A King I get the re-occurring feeling that I’m stuck in an unknown popsychedelic time warp that the band have created by plucking and blending what they needed from the sixties, seventies and nineties; all the while still allowing themselves to fit in quite snug somewhere between their indie counterparts– Dinosaur Jr and Neutral Milk Hotel.
I Was A King is the ear-catching result made from the often-sensitive combination of chaotic, garage noise and fuzzy, dream-pop sensibility. When composed well, or exquisitely in this case, it is a sweet, sweet taste.
